Hotel Loyalty Promotions Update April 6, 2012

One of the most important events of the year happens April 9-May 11with the U.S. Travel Association’s Daily Getaways sponsored by American Express. This is an opportunity to buy hotel loyalty points in several programs including Hilton HHonors, Priority Club, Wyndham Rewards and probably Hyatt Gold Passport and Choice Privileges. Marriott has travel cards at up to 20% discount. Several hotel brands offer discounted stay certificates.

The major offers from each hotel loyalty program are listed first. The number of asterisks from 1-5 indicates my rating for this offer with 4 or 5 being the best value offers in my opinion.

Le Club Accor – this Europe-based program officially changed its name from A|Club to Le Club Accor on March 28, 2012. Accor Hotels offers a variety of global regional bonusesand rate discounts. The program tends to have regionalized rate and bonus points promotions.

**** Choice Privileges – March 8 – May 8, 2012 – Earn 8,000 points after two stays.The promotion states earn one free night, but the offer is actually 8,000 bonus points which is sufficient for a free night at the two lowest tiers of hotels in the Choice chain. Top tier Choice brand hotels require 20,000 to 25,000 points for a free night.

The best aspect of this offer is there is no limit to the number of bonus pointsfor US and Canada Choice Privileges membersand other countries have a 48,000 bonus points limit.

I bumped the rating up to 4-stars based on a recent analysis finding widespread availability of $200+ Choice hotels in Paris for 8,000 points in May and June. This is a better offer than Best Western and Wyndham offers for April 2012 with their low maximum earning limits and Choice Hotels has the competitive advantage of being in so many places around the USA and Canada, yet also having a big presence globally. Loyalty Traveler post March 7, 2012.

****Club Carlson – Club Carlson should be launching a new promotion in the next couple of weeks. The Triple Points offer ended March 16. Currently the primary offer is a 3-for-2 rate discount in Asia Pacific and a great car rental bonuses for Avis and Budget(LT post March 16, 2012).

**** Hyatt 3rd Night Free Rate is a rate discount for bookings through November 30, 2012 for stays by December 30, 2012. Rate includes breakfast for two and 2pm late checkout. My Loyalty Traveler rate analysis March 21 showed this is a good value and usually lower than AAA rates.

Hyatt Visa card members earn 25% bonus each time for up to 11,000 additional points (Total = 55,000 points). You only need to be a Hyatt Visa card member for this bonus. You do not need to charge hotel stays to your Hyatt Visa to earn credit card 25% bonus points.

Hyatt promotion registration deadline is March 31.

This is a 4-star promotion for credit card members and frequent guests going for 16 nights. 3-star offer if not going all-in to stay at Hyatt for full bonus.

This is a high value deal if you go all in for 16 nights. This offer allows all types of travelers to benefit. This offer will earn at least two free nights at any top tier Hyatt Hotel (two category-6 hotel nights = 44,000 points for places like Maldives, Paris, London, New York). Regular points earned from hotel stays can put you in the 60,000+ points range.

Gold Passport Diamond Challenge– Most beneficial perhaps is to tie this offer into a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond Challenge for 12 nights in 60 days (normally 25 stays or 50 nights in calendar year). As Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond for 2012 you also will receive 4 confirmed suite upgrades. Start the Gold Passport Diamond Challenge first and then get the credit card once you have Diamond status to get confirmed suite upgrades for your credit card free nights. FlyerTalk discussion threadon Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond challenge.

*** InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards – January 23 – April 30, 2012Double Points or Double Miles. You must register for this offer before your stays. Double points or double miles begins on second stay unless your first stay is Candewood Suites or Staybridge Suites. LT post January 13.

****IHG Priority Club 2012 Quarter 2 Stay promotions – Priority Club members may register for one of the quarterly stay promotions running April 1-June 30, 2012. You can only register for one offer, so pick the target you are most likely to reach. Loyalty Traveler post March 16, 2012.

Stay 3 nights = 5,000 bonus points.

Stay 7 nights = 10,000 bonus points.

Stay 15 nights = 15,000 bonus points.

***** IHG Priority Club PointBreaks hotel rewards to May 31. These are hotels for 5,000 points. Priority Club points are only $30 through Daily Getaways sale April 9. Priority Club also has discount rates for buying points through April 30. Loyalty Traveler post March 30.

Note to Marriott Rewards members:You must have your Marriott Rewards account earning preference set to miles in order to see Marriott Rewards miles promotions.

***** Ritz-Carlton Rewards February 1-April 15, 2012 earn one free night after two stays. Limit of two free night certificates. Promotion is open to new Ritz-Carlton Rewards enrollees or RCR members as of January 13, 2012. Current Marriott Rewards members are not eligible for this offer. Promotion registration required by March 1, 2012. Loyalty traveler post Jan 31, 2012.

Starwood Preferred Guest should announce a new promotion next week as Better by the Night ends April 8.

Sheraton Club Lounge bookings earn 1,000 bonus points when paid with any American Express card for stays February 21 to May 31, 2012. LT post February 24, 2012.

Wyndham Rewards

*** March 29-July 8, 2012 – Double Points or double miles for first four stays and movie tickets. This offer is for members in US, Canada and Mexico. Loyalty Traveler post April 1, 2012.

**** March 29-July 8, 2012 – Wyndham Rewards 10,000 points every 2 stays, up to 30,000 bonus points after 6 stays. This is a better promotion offer for members who do not reside in US, Canada and Mexico. Loyalty Traveler post April 3, 2012.

5-Star Promotion Scale

Loyalty Traveler ranks the consumer value of some hotel loyalty promotions on a Five–Star Scale.

Five ***** = one of the best hotel loyalty promotions of the year.

Four ****= high value rebate on the cost of hotel stays.

Three ***= good value hotel loyalty promotion or rate offer

Two **= a bonus value if you play, but not necessarily worth going out of your way.

One *= There is limited or no value. You are likely paying more than the bonus value.

Rate discounts and loyalty program bonusesare two types of hotel chain incentives to consider when booking travel.

Rankings are subjective and subject to change. Your specific travel pattern may result in some promotions ranking more favorably for you.

When assigning a rank I take into consideration the following factors and probably more:

The opportunity for significantly high-value return on hotel spend in terms of future hotel rebate in free nights and discounted hotel nights.

Past loyalty program offers and rates for the specific hotel chain and loyalty program.

Accor Hotels is globally the largest chain of hotel brands outside of the USA. Accor also has the largest proportion of hotels as non-participants in its loyalty program compared to all other major global hotel chains. Hotels in economy and budget hotel market segments do not participate in Accor’s hotel loyalty programs.

***** Best Western Rewards –February 6 – April 8, 2012 Free night after 3 stays. This offer is limited to one free night voucher after 3 stays. All hotels globally participate. Must register for promotion before stays. The free night voucher expires June 30, 2012 which is the biggest limitation for this offer. LT post January 23, 2012.

Best Western Brand Tiers Change– Best Western in 2011 designated about 25% of the chain’s higher quality hotels in the 4,000+ hotel chain as Best Western Plus (about 800 hotels) and Best Western Premier (about 100 hotels, mostly outside U.S.).

New Business Program – Club Carlson for Businessoffers small to medium businesses a special program for hotel rate discounts and a Club Carlson business account for earning additional points from employee hotel stays. Employees also maintain their own personal accounts and earn points normally as a Club Carlson member.

*** Choice Privileges – March 8 – May 8, 2012 – Earn 8,000 points after two stays.The promotion states earn one free night, but the offer is actually 8,000 bonus points which is sufficient for a free night at the two lowest tiers of hotels in the Choice chain. Top tier Choice brand hotels require 20,000 to 25,000 points for a free night. Loyalty Traveler post March 7, 2012.

Choice Privileges reward night cost analysis. Using a spreadsheet of 2010 reward cost, I calculated the percentage of hotels in various reward levels worldwide from 6,000 points to 40,000 points. This is the only breakdown of hotel reward tiers I have ever seen for Choice Hotels. Loyalty Traveler post May 1, 2011.

Nordic Choice Club hotel loyalty program covers 140 Choice hotels in Scandinavia and Baltic regions of Europe. Choice Privileges members currently do not earn points for hotel stays in Scandinavia, although hotel stays are available for points. Nordic Choice Club offers points and benefits for hotels in this region. Choice Privileges members planning frequent travel in Scandinavia may want to compare the benefits of Nordic Choice Club to Choice Privileges. (LT post Sep 9, 2010)

Drury Hotels are the #1 rated midscale limited service hotel brand by J.D. Power Guest Satisfaction Survey six consecutive years including 2010 and 2011. This hotel brand is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri and properties are primarily located in Midwest and South.

Vacation and Hotel Discount Coupons for Drury Hotels in St. Louis, Kansas City, Columbus, San Antonio and Atlanta. There are $10 and $15 per night discounts at select hotels on this page.

Expedia.com – Expedia Rewards

Expedia’s loyalty program, Expedia Rewards, earns points for air, hotel and travel package bookings. This is a gamechanger for online travel agencies. Booking airfare through Expedia is a no brainer method for earning additional travel rebates since frequent flyer benefits are unaffected. Hotels are a different matter though since no hotel loyalty points with programs like SPG, Marriott, Hilton and most others are earned for Expedia bookings.

Expedia Rewards offers the ability to earn points when booking travel for other people like family members and friends. And Expedia vacation packages often allow a hotel night to be added for the same price as airfare alone; particularly when traveling to Las Vegas. Loyalty Traveler Analysis March 28, 2011.

HHonors Redemption tip: A unique feature of HHonors is the ability to buy all needed point for a reward stay at time of booking hotel through Hilton reservations.

***** Elite Status Promotion: Hilton HHonors Gold elite fast-track for Carlson Wagonlit Travel customers. Earn HHonors Gold elite after four stays within 90 days of promotion registration. This offer has an end date of 12/31/2013 so might be best to wait until January 2012 to register for Gold elite through 2013. Loyalty Traveler post Sep 6.

Program Change: HHonors Point Stretcher Rewards discontinued for 2012. Point Stretchers required 40% fewer points than standard HHonors rewards. No official word yet on HHonors web site, but FlyerTalk thread indicates these rewards are dead and have been replaced with Points & Money Rewards. LT post Jan 6, 2012.

Hotel News: Home2Suites, Hilton’s second extended stay brand, opened its first hotel in 2011 in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Unfortunately this new hotel brand becomes the first HHonors brand with a lower earn rate for points and miles. Loyalty Traveler post March 21, 2011.

Hyatt Visa card members earn 25% bonus each time for up to 11,000 additional points (Total = 55,000 points). You only need to be a Hyatt Visa card member for this bonus. You do not need to charge hotel stays to your Hyatt Visa to earn credit card 25% bonus points.

This is a 4-star promotion for credit card members and frequent guests going for 16 nights. 3-star offer if not going all-in to stay at Hyatt for full bonus.

This is a high value deal if you go all in for 16 nights. This offer allows all types of travelers to benefit. This offer will earn at least two free nights at any top tier Hyatt Hotel (two category-6 hotel nights = 44,000 points for places like Maldives, Paris, London, New York). Regular points earned from hotel stays can put you in the 60,000+ points range.

***** IHG Priority Club PointBreaks hotel rewards to May 31. These are hotels for 5,000 points. Priority Club points are only $30 through Daily Getaways sale April 9. Priority Club also has discount rates for buying points through April 30. Loyalty Traveler post March 30.

***** Europe Rate Discount through August 31, 2012 offer high discounts, but these rates do not earn Priority Club points.LT post January 27, 2012.

Use the 35% off link to go to UK site for IHG discount rates. This site allows search of hotels in Europe for 2 nights for price of 1 rates and 3 nights for price of 2.

2-for-1 rates in UK and Europe

3-for-2 rates in UK and Europe

IHG Friend & Family Hotel Rates (Steve Sickel). Steve Sickel is senior Vice President Relationship Marketing for InterContinental Hotels Group. During the hotel recession of 2009 he offered this link to FlyerTalk members for booking discount friends and family rates. This link is still active. And we are all friends of Steve’s. Here is a FlyerTalk threaddiscussing this rate deal. The link in Steve Sickel’s name leads to the offer page for a voucher to complete. Some guests mention the hotel wants the completed voucher at check-in. These rates do not qualify for points or stay credit. One of the best features of this offer is the ability to book high category rooms at steep discount.

IHG Priority Club Last Minute Reward Nights are posted the week before the first weekend of the month. Hotels are only posted for a few days and must be booked by Thursday prior to the Friday through Sunday first full weekend of the month dates. LT post February 28, 2012.

IHG Priority Club partnership with Las Vegas Resorts – The Venetian and The Palazzobecome InterContinental Alliance hotel partners as of April 1, 2011. Priority Club points can be earned and burned for hotel stays and InterContinental Ambassador benefits apply.

Leaders Club Rewards program changes: Membership fees for Leaders Club Rewards dropped to $100 annual for Access level. You can also buy Access level membership for 10,000 American Express Membership Rewards points. Access membership includes complimentary breakfast for two each day of stay and free internet.
Unlimited membership is $1,200 annually. Loyalty traveler post Feb 3, 2011.

New Autograph Collection Hotels are joining Marriott Rewards with six Boscolo Hotels in Italy, Prague and Budapest. LT postAugust 1.

AC Hotels is Marriott’s newest hotel brand. AC Hotels are a Madrid-based hotel chain now partnered with Marriott and brings 90 new upscale hotels in Spain, Italy and Portugal into the Marriott Rewards system. This brand is projected to expand in Europe and Latin America. Loyalty Traveler post March 27, 2011. AC Hotels earn Marriott Rewards points as of November 8, 2011.

I Prefer benefits include complimentary internet, room upgrades and early check-in, late checkout.

Preferred Offers I Prefer and Preferred Hotels Group special offers page. Members of Choice Privileges and Red Lion R&R Club can use points in those programs for free nights at participating hotels within Preferred Hotels Group.

***** Ritz-Carlton Rewards February 1-April 30, 2012 earn one free night after two stays. Limit of two free night certificates. Promotion is open to new Ritz-Carlton Rewards enrollees or RCR members as of January 13, 2012. Current Marriott Rewards members are not eligible for this offer. Registration required by March 1. Loyalty traveler post Jan 31, 2012.

*** SPG Hear the Music, See the World Sweepstakes April 3-30, 2012. There are 9 grand prizes for two nights with paid economy flights to a Starwood brand hotel for a music event. Loyalty Traveler post April 5, 2012.

· 50+ nights Platinum membersonly – 10 Suite Night Awards. This is in addition to the existing and continuing policy of complimentary upgrades upon arrival for SPG Platinum elites that has been a long time competitive edge of Starwood preferred Guest.

These Starwood extended stay discount rates for 2 to 6 nights have been around for several years, but are not well advertised on Starwood site. Third Night Free tends to be the best discount rate. Important to check other rates (AAA, Senior, Special Offers) as these discounts are generally based on the Best Available Rate (BAR) and may not be the lowest overall rate for some hotels. Loyalty Traveler rate analysis Sep 21, 2011 – Better Know a Rate Z3H and Z3R and other extended stay promo codes.

Starwood Preferred Guest Hotel Category reward assignment changes for 2012 took effect on March 1, 2011. 183 hotels went up and 138 went down.My LT post “Analysis of SPG Hotel Category Changes March 1, 2012” (Feb 21, 2012) has a list ordered by city, state and country for changes.

Starwood Hotels data on number of hotels in each brand and average rates by brand and global region. Loyalty traveler post Feb 4, 2011.

Stash Rewards is a two year old loyalty program for over 100 independent upscale hotels in the U.S. Loyalty Traveler post Jan 19.Loyalty Traveler has found the hotel partners with Stash Rewards in Monterey and Washington D.C. are great choices for hotel travelers seeking independent hotels with loyalty benefits. Stash Rewards offers points for many high quality independent hotels that previously had no loyalty program affiliation.

Swissôtel Circle is the newly relaunched loyalty program for Swissotel Hotels and Resorts as of August 15, 2011. The Swissotel Circle loyalty program includes 30 Swissotel Hotels, Fairmont Hotels and Raffles. This Sep 9, 2011 Loyalty Traveler postis an overview of the hotel loyalty program, elite levels and benefits.

*** March 29-July 8, 2012 – Double Points or double miles for first four stays and movie tickets. This offer is for members in US, Canada and Mexico. Loyalty Traveler post April 1, 2012.

**** March 29-July 8, 2012 – Wyndham Rewards 10,000 points every 2 stays, up to 30,000 bonus points after 6 stays. This is a better promotion offer for members who do not reside in US, Canada and Mexico. Loyalty Traveler post April 3, 2012.

Ric Garrido of Monterey, California started Loyalty Traveler in 2006 for traveler education on hotel and air travel, primarily using frequent flyer and frequent guest loyalty programs for bargain travel.
Loyalty Traveler joined BoardingArea.com in 2008.

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[…] The Loyalty Traveler put out an update this week for his current hotel loyalty program promotions. I always make sure to check this list before I make a hotel reservation to make sure I am not missing out on any promos. He usually covers pretty much every promotion for all of the major hotel brands with loyalty programs, and there is rarely anything missing. Details HERE. […]